


Love The One You're With

by stormy1x2



Category: The Croods (2013)
Genre: Drama & Romance, Eavesdropping, F/M, I Love You, I'm Bad At Tagging, Kidnapping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-05
Updated: 2015-03-05
Packaged: 2018-03-16 12:39:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3488585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stormy1x2/pseuds/stormy1x2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-movie. Guy's family tribe has been found and Guy has been promised to someone besides Eep. Guy is not to pleased about this. Neither is Eep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love The One You're With

**Title:** Love The One You're With

 **Author:** Stormy1x2

 **Fandom:** The Croods

 **Word Count:** 4880

 **Notes** : Post-movie. Guy's family tribe has been found and Guy has been promised to someone besides Eep. Guy is not to pleased about this. Neither is Eep.

 

 

**~o0o~**

 

**Love The One You're With**

 

**~o0o~**

 

“Lump will make the perfect mate for you,” his uncle proclaimed. “The two of you are bother strong and good-looking. Your offspring will have strength, brains and good looks, perfect for setting high prices on future matches.

 

Lump smiled at Guy, eyes slitted lazily like a cats, her body undulating like an river current as she padded forward to show her acceptance of the match. Her skin consisted of miles and miles of bronzed, sun-kissed skin, delicately swathed in a dress that fell to her knees, and bound tightly around her top He recognized the colour, blue with subtle tones of green – they must have ground up a great many Parraffolow eggs to dye the fabric. The tattoos on her showed not only was she strong and a good hunter, but she was also... uh, experienced? In the sleeping fur arts? It was a promise that she would easily please him and his ears turned red at the thought.

 Shaking his head, he took two steps back, away from the temptation they had laid before him. “I must refuse this match,” he said, swallowing hard. He managed to keep himself from shaking – he was refusing a match made by his father's tribe and was likely going to be cast out, but he already had a potential mate, and she was not going to be replaced by another pretty face.

 His uncle's face was changing colour. Guy watched, fascinated as it turned the same colour as Eep's owl-cat. His fingers were clutching his ornately designed walking stick, white, there they'd gone bloodless at the knuckles. “You ungrateful wretch of a boy,” he spat out. “Your parents gave you to me in the event of their death. I agreed only because you were clever and somewhat good-looking enough to attract a high-value mate with a dowry to match when you were a troublesome boy.”

 Lump smiled coquettishly. “I do have an ample dowry,” she purred, crossing her arms and leaning forward, trying to show off just what part of her dowry was restraining. Her parents beamed proudly, and glared alternately at Guy for refusing their offspring.

Geet smiled at the young lady, and then nodded at her father. “Your father was indeed, most generous, Lump. And you and my brother's son will be mated.”

“I will not,” Guy snarled again. “I told you, I have a potential mate. Someone I love. And it's not Lump.” He looked over at the blonde girl who was pouting at him, twirling a lock of wavy yellow around her finger, brushing the tip of the tail to her lips. “That won't work.”

And it wouldn't. This woman had everyone in thrall, wherever she met. She always looked clean and bright, her clothing accentuating her long, lean frame and curvy hips and breasts. Her hair probably felt like silk. He didn't know what silk was, but he imagined it must be something smooth and soft, the way it rolled off his tongue in his imagination.

All of it was nothing compared to Eep. His Tiger of Tomorrow. Her athletic figure framed in the skin-tight tiger-nary pelt that barely covered the essentials and yet Eep didn't try to flirt with it. It was made simple, arms and legs completely free to allow her to leap through the air as though she were weightless. Her muscular arms and legs spoke of years of running and climbing, pushing herself and her body to the limits of what it could do. Her orange-red hair, matted from the sweat of daily exertion and lightened by years of desert sun pouring down on it – when they were not in their cave, that is.

Guy had been smitten the day he first taken off his boar-snake head and tilted his head to the side to see her face at a better angle. Her enthusiasm, her awe at his fire-making, her childish delight at having to act out scenes in their traps, or the way she smiled and scooted closer and closer until her toes touched his as he told stories about Tomorrow.

Eep had been quiet since they'd discovered his clan on the opposite end of the Tomorrow beach they'd first landed on. They were small – not even twenty people – but it was still new and not' just dangerous, Grug told them all, but super-dangerous.

Therefore, new Grug had retreated inside of old, panicked Grug, and was – as always – wary about meeting them. They looked different, they smelled different, their clothes were coloured unnaturally. Grug had loosened up quite a bit since arriving in Tomorrow, but he knew what clan meets could do, and he'd forbidden Ugga to go near them with the exception of the women when they went to the ocean to bathe and relax. He had tried to do the same with Eep – she was of the age when clan's would be wanting to claim her as a mate to a member of their tribe, and Grug simply would not let his little girl be taken by anyone.

Except Guy. Grug had made that pretty clear by accepting him as the seventh Crood upon their arrival in Tomorrow. And Guy was not about to disappoint the second father figure he'd ever had his life.

His uncle however, had different plans, and had claimed Guy by right of blood. Guy didn't even feel like he belonged to them anymore. His plans and ideas had been just as crazy to his clansmen and women as a child – it had been one of the main reasons his mother and father and decided to become travelling nomads. It had been a way to encourage their child in his schemes and ideas, and allowed them to raise him with love, affection and praise - not subject him to the mockery of his people.

His uncle had been thrilled to see his long-lost nephew, and had wasted no time in enacting a betrothal he had made on Guy's behalf in hopes his brother's son would be found. Guy's claims of love to Eep had been discarded as causally a cleansing leaf after clearing his bowels in the trough beyond and downwind of the village.

Guy wasn't about to stand for that.

The idea that they thought she was a dumb 'cave-y', that she and her family had nothing to contribute to the clan by virtue of them being culturally and physically different from his tribe.... it was sheer idiocy.

Eep was the quickest learner he'd ever seen. She picked up what he taught her in seconds, and seconds later, could adapt it to better or alternate use. She could fight better than he could, her family having done everything together their lives. The whole family was amazingly strong, adaptable (even Grug, eventually) and capable of running at amazing speeds over rough terrain and without stopping. Even Thunk, and that boy looked like he had the physique of a rhinocer-whale. They worked together like a well-oiled machine – whatever that was. He'd have to invent it later. Anyway. With the Croods, there was no, 'male hunt, woman stay home and cook, gather, give birth'. They were a team.

And they had made him a part of it.

So he faced his uncle calmly. “I have said my piece,” he finished calmly. “You know my answer.”

Lump had an ugly scowl on her otherwise flawless face. She marched towards him, long legs carrying her swiftly over the fallen leaves and needles of the towering fir trees until she came to a halt in front of him. She looked at him, peering over his face. “What is your attraction to the little cave girl?” she asked. “It certainly can't be her looks.” She tossed her hair lightly and then caught up a few strands that gleamed gold in the sun. She rubbed the strands around her pink lips, bringing his attention to her face.

Guy blinked at the display, and then shrugged helplessly. “You are beautiful, Lump,” he stated coolly. “But it takes much more than looks to win my heart.”

“Mmmm...” she hummed. She reached out one long arm and traced a delicate finger along the band of his necklace, playfully tugging the centrepiece. At his waist, Belt was growling quietly. “Then what is it? She's so naive, it's almost charming, I'll give you that, but she doesn't even want you. I heard you two speaking. She will not do her duty as a female. She will not mate with you and carry your children.”

“That's not what you heard,” Guy growled, almost matching Belt in timbre. “She is young and inexperienced. Also, I have not asked her to be mine yet. In your eyes, I may be unclaimed, but in my heart, I am her hers.”

“But a cave-y? Really?” Lump licked her lips, and moved even closer, backing Guy against the rough bark of an old tree. His left hand she picked up and set on her lip. Her other hand caressed his face as she leaned into him, her warmth lining along his torso. “I promise you, I am willing to bear your children.” Her eyelids fluttered but her eyes were sharp on his, watching him carefully. “Do you see how we match?” she whispered, one leg between his, her knee playfully nuzzling his. “See how warm my skin, how soft my touch can be.”

Guy swallowed hard, and then reached for her hands, gripping them carefully and pulling them away from his body. Her squeezed them between his own, their grip holding together at the level of their hearts. “It's not you I wish to hold,” he said softly.

“She cannot be soft like me when you hold her,” Lump said just as softly, pushing her weight forward so their clasped hands rested atop Guy's heart. She leaned in and pressed her nose to the junction of his neck and shoulders, sniffing once and then pressing a gentle kiss. Guy shuddered. “See how you respond to my touch.”

Guy nodded and exhaled. “I did say you were beautiful,” he reminded her with a clogged throat. He grunted to clear it. “Any man would react to a beautiful women touching them so intimately. It doesn't mean the heart is involved.”

Lump shrugged. “Very rarely is there love in the first few months of a match being made; you know this. Love comes later, usually when the children are born.” She rolled her hips against him, smiling as he responded.

Guy wanted to tell Belt to smack him with a rock to break him free of the woman. “I want love first in my life,” he said. “And I have it. It's not you. I do not love you. I will not love you. And I said no.”

Once again he pushed her away. This time as he did, he pulled her towards himself again – but pivoted, leaving Lump pressed against the tree. Then he released her hands and took a step back. Then another. “I have someone to hold. Please respect me enough to know when to stop.”

“I do not understand what you see in her,” Lump said with a shudder. “Those arms... those shoulders – surely it's like grabbing on to a man when you hold her. All that muscle!”

Guy's lips thinned into a frown. “What?”

Lump giggled and leaned forward against his shoulder, letting her long, soft hair brush against his arms. “I can show you what a real woman is like,” she whispered, batting her eyelashes at him. “You don't need that little cave-y anymore. I promise.” She stroked the tattoo on her inner thigh, barely visible due to the length of her skirt. Then again, that same length allowed him to see her inner thigh and he quickly raised his eyes back to hers as she pulled back and arched sinuously against the tree. “Look at my mark. I am talented in the furs. You will never find one as well-trained as I. Your stupid little cave-y doesn't even know how to open her legs.”

Guy was frozen on the spot – half by shock and the rest by a sudden, flaming incandescent _rage_ . How _dare_ this woman speak of Eep in such a way? After a moment, he shook off the paralysis that crept over him and he lunged at her, gripping her by the shoulders. She smiled up, apparently unaware of the hatred he was sure was practically spewing from his eyes, but he would set her straight. He opened his mouth –

\- and his head shot upwards, startled by rustling leaves, to see Eep perched in the tree branches above them. Her face was calm but her eyes – oh, by the sun, _Sun_ , her _eyes_ – looked so broken. He gasped, “ _Eep_?” but she was gone, leaping from branch to branch far faster than he could ever hope to catch her.

~o0o~

.

~o0o~

 

“Eep, let me explain--”

“Don't bother,” she snapped, turning around and stalking back the way she'd come. “A simple cave-y like myself probably wouldn’t understand anyway.” And what did she care? Guy's family tribe had made it perfectly clear that they intended to take their reclaimed Guy and mate him off to the blonde she-cat that was purring and licking her lips in Guy's direction, the same way the Li-yotes gazed upon their leftover food.

Eep's head snapped up at the sound of a woman screaming. Her eyes locked on the owl-cat that had been following them the day before – it had crept up to the edge of the nomad camp and was running away – with someone in its mouth?

“My baby!” moaned one of the nomad women, falling to her knees.

Eep blinked. That wasn't going to get the child back. Did she somehow forget how to run? The poor woman. This wasn't Lump and her mean mouth. This woman hadn't done anything to anyone as far as Eep was concerned, and so she didn't deserve to lose her child to an owl-cat. Well, this was something Eep could handle, at any rate. She pushed past Guy and started to sprint.

It had been a while since she'd gone all out like this. Guy's traps and trickery had made hunting so much easier, but there was something so primal and animalistic about getting down to the ground and powering across it, every muscle in her body corded and working together. She loved it. She growled and pumped her arms faster, legs pistoning faster than most people could clearly see. Her eyes focused on the bounding animal ahead of her, a low growl escaping as she caught sight of the flailing child in its mouth.

Owl-cats were extremely habitual, and one of those habits in particular was to take their time with their prey. They liked to savour their food, to relax and devour it at their leisure. It wouldn't kill it until it was safe in its lair. If the child didn't do something stupid, like cut its own throat on the teeth pressing down on it, it would be fine. Eep grinned and took a flying leap off the boulder she had aimed for. Her foot pressed down hard and then she was airborne.

She landed with a thump and a growl on the back of the owl-cat. It growled back at her and shook its head, trying to throw her off, but Eep had an excellent grip and tons of experience in riding galloping critters. Her own owl-cat had fought harder the day Eep caught and tamed her. Even Chunky put up better fights on washing days.

She crawled forward until she was right over its head, fingers digging into the animal's thick, spiky ruff, powerful thigh muscles clenching around its neck. She raised her hands, forming a club over her head, and then brought them down with all of her considerable strength as hard she could on the owl-cat's sensitive sniffer.

The owl-cat yowled in agony, jaws opening wide as it cried out in pain. Eep grabbed hold of one large furry ear and swung down the side of its head, snatching the child out of its mouth and tossing it on her back. “Hold on!” she instructed loudly. The child clung to her, weakened arms and legs locking around her body as best they could. She inwardly smirked at the instant response - a child who could follow orders. That was new. One of the long sabered teeth gashed her along her bicep; she wrenched her arm away with a muttered curse. The blood flowed cleanly but she wasn't worried about that.

The owl-cat was stumbling now, blinded by pained tears and Eep let go just as it crashed to the ground and rolled along the sandy floor. For herself, Eep landed in a crouch, one hand gripping the child's hands locked around her neck, the other digging a deep trench into the ground as she skidded to a stop, a plume of golden dust rising into the dry air. She stayed there, hunched over, peering eyes through the dusty haze on the owl-cat who was yowling and rubbing its face against the dry, cracked ground.

A delayed pain hit her - she looked down at her arm for a quick check, and smiled with relief. The cut was deep but short. The blood flowed swiftly down her arm, pattering into the dust and pooling around her fingers. It was starting to hurt a little, but Eep had suffered many different scars over her sixteen summers and this wasn't even close to the worst she'd had.

The child was still clinging to her, blubbering and whimpering. Eep dragged the child off her back and held it up by one arm, sniffing it to check for wounds. There were some small cuts, thankfully more shallow then the one she'd been given, but not much else. “That's a lot of water coming out of your eyes,” she said frankly. “You should stop that. It's a waste of resources.” That was a Guy word – what he called all the things they found to eat and use for themselves. Just because they were in Tomorrow didn't mean they had to abuse it.

The child ignored her and kept howling. Eep shrugged and set it on the ground. It began crawling away towards her mother – who was racing towards them, water covering her face too. These people were so wasteful with liquids. And _slow_ – Eep blinked as she registered the slow crawl of the child and the slow running of the mother, wincing as she stumbled over the crags and dips of the ground. No wonder she hadn't chased after the owl-cat. If that was her top running speed, the best she could hope to catch was a turtledove with a broken wing. Sandy could have circled the entire valley in the time it took for them to reunite back when Sandy was even younger than the child she'd rescued.

Speaking of owl-cats, the creature was limping away, shaking its head. Blood was seeping out of its sniffer, collecting in the bushy whiskers. Eep felt a brief moment of sympathy for it – she could see its ribs through the wiry fur and feathers. No wonder it had risked attacking a group; it was starving. And now that she wasn't fixated on the chase, she could see it had a damaged paw. Must have been from birth or a battle that took so much of it off. Poor creature. Maybe later she and Guy could track it down and put it out of its misery...

Her thoughts stuttered to a halt. Guy. Whom she had left babbling things to her she had not wanted to hear. She didn't want to hear him say he was going to go and mate with the long-haired skinny woman instead of with her.

“Eep!”

She looked up to see Guy running towards her. His eyes were wide and scared-looking. Why? She'd taken down the owl-cat with almost no trouble at all; he'd seen her hunt animals just as dangerous. She huffed a bit, looking away. He had no right to be scared or yell, not when he was leaving her, leaving their family to be with a yellow-haired twig that Eep could snap in half with her bare hands--

\--Eep was grabbed, hard, and spun around. She brought a hand up, ready to hit – Guy? She blinked. “What's wrong?” she asked, dully. She did not want to hear his words. She never wanted to hear him say--

“Are you okay?” Guy looked absolutely frantic. He had hold of her undamaged arm and was lifting it, much the same way she had lifted his back when they'd first met. He wasn't sniffing for injuries – his sniffer apparently wasn't good enough, but his eyes were as sharp as hers. He gasped at the sight of the cut on her arm and he immediately yanked off the rabbit skin he perpetually wore around his waist. Folding part of it, he pressed it hard against her arm.

“Ow!” Eep tried to pull away, only to freeze when Guy barked ' _Hold STILL_ ' at her. Guy _never_ yelled at her. She glared at him. “I can take care of myself!”

“I know you can,” he replied, and his tone was back to normal, if still a little worried. She could smell the worry pouring off him in waves. “But let me. Please.”

She wanted to ask why he wanted to, why he cared he was just going to leave her, but she couldn't get the words out. She felt his hands on her arm, the heat pressing through to her skin, and watched, her throat choked up, as he gently but firmly pulled the rabbit skin ends around and tied it off. He then took her hand and gently brought it up to her arm. “What-”

“Press down,” he said quietly. “It will help the bleeding stop quicker.”

She bit her lip and then nodded, doing as he directed. It stung and throbbed under the pressure, but she was used to worse pains. “Here comes your stick woman,” Eep said, trying to but not quite managing to keep all of the bitterness from her voice. “Now you can mate with her and be happy.” She nodded her head at the yellow-haired girl who was smiling and trying to summon Guy to her with her fingers, curling up towards herself. “Go on.”

Guy froze on the spot, unable to move. “You want me to mate with her?”

Eep looked tired. Strained and tired. She gave him a forlorn, lost, little smile that made Guy's heart ache in response to it. “What I want, is for you to be happy.” She shrugged and looked at the ground, one foot sweeping the dust to the side. “That one is ready and willing to mate with you. I am not ready to mate yet. You are. You two will be happy. If you are happy, I will be happy.”

Guy shook his head, rubbing his temples with his index fingers. “Eep... where did you get the idea that I need to mate so badly I'd be willing to throw you aside for just anyone?”

Eep shrugged her shoulders again, one arm coming up to rub the other. “It's what the elders were all talking about,” she said lowly. “That you would make a good addition to their tribe and that the Croods would not. They said you must be wanting to mate with your 'own kind' – a tall, thin stick person like yourself. That one -“ She angled her head towards the blonde who was still coming over, walking strangely, one finger twirling her straw-coloured hair. “-said she'd be happy to mate with you.”

SO she'd been spying on all of his clan, not just him. Well, that was somewhat reassuring. Still...“Well, that's wonderful how everyone seems to know what I want without asking me first,” Guy said sharply. “Eep, I don't care if you're not ready to mate yet. That was never a problem.” He smiled at her, reaching one hand to lift her chin up so he could see her eyes. “I told you I loved you and that I would wait as long as it took for you to be ready for me. Did you think I was lying to you?”

“No...” Eep's voice trailed off. “But... I thought... I mean... these are your people.” She waved her arm to encompass the entire camp. “These girls... at the stream and the ocean... they are your people. And they said you would be happier with them than a...” Her voice trailed off again.

Wonderful. Grug's decree that Ugga (and therefor Eep) could go and talk to the women of his clan at the river must have led to some very unpleasant conversations.“Then what, Eep?” Guy raised his other hand and cradled her jaw between them.

“Then a bunch of stupid, ignorant cave-y's,” she whispered, eyes drifting shut. She didn't want to see agreement in his face. She'd rather he struck her dead now, than live with him going off to mate with the tall blonde girl. The hands cupping her face suddenly and very, very, gently, began to trail down her neck and across to her shoulders, squeezing them lightly. His right hand carefully slipped behind her and cradled the back of her head – and suddenly she was being brought forward. She opened her eyes in time to see Guy very gently move in and press a gentle kiss on her cheek. She stared at him as he moved back and then repeated his action on her other cheek. Then a final one on her forehead. The gentleness was what undid her, and she squeezed her eyes shut just as the water began to gather and flow down her face.

“I don't want her, Eep,” Guy said softly, his words like a gentle breeze kissing her ears. “I never wanted her. My choice is always going to be you. I knew I would never want anyone else once I saw you that first night, when you beat me up and tried to take my fire.”

Eep opened her eyes, staring into his, searching for truth. “Guy...?”

“My beautiful tiger girl..” Guy continued in that sweet, soft tone, creating butterflies in Eep's stomach. “So strong and fierce, so lovely and loyal... I knew once I saw you that I was spoiled for other women.” He leaned forward again and rested his forehead against hers. Eep breathed deeply, taking in his scent, breathing his air. “Your family is my family for as long as you will have me.” 

“Croods don't give up family members,” she choked out. “We're selfish that way. You're stuck with us.”

“Can't think of anything else I'd like more,” Guy said with a wet-sounding laugh. “Except to be with you for as long as I live – once you are ready, and not a moment before then.” He wrapped his long arms around the stocky, lightly muscled girl and squeezed her until she squeezed back. This hug thing was a truly spectacular idea.

“I am not ready yet,” Eep said, pushing back a bit and looking him deep in the eyes; her own bright green ones showing her strength, her determination. “But I will one day. And I want no one but you in my own furs.” She smiled, her face a little red but then she remarked, “But I will earn her tattoo here,” she pointed to her inner thigh, hidden from view at their present angle,”...so I will not let you down. I will practise--”

Guy blinked and then crushed her in another hug. His mouth brushed her ear, making her shiver again. “You will _not_ . I don't want you practising with anyone but _me_.”

Eep squeezed back and he felt her warm breath steal over his own ear, copying his action and earning the same reaction. He shuddered as he heard her whisper, “Whatever you want.”

“That's what I want, Eep,” he said, dropping his forehead to her shoulder and waiting for her to do the same. “That is exactly what I want.”

 

**~o0o~**

**End**

**~o0o~**

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> That's all she wrote, folks. I *may* do a follow-up or a prequel, but honestly I probably won't. Thus jumped into my head after reading a few of you doing post-movie fics and I wanted to try my hand at home. You might see a few elements of other styles of writing – Aya, the worlds living Mary Sue (in the book series Clan of the Cave Bears) Jondalar (also CotCB but for the furs), and a few others. Let me know if you can see the other inspirations in here. I'll let you know if you're right (and if it's a signed review – can't respond to non-signed in comments) . Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading!


End file.
